Burma: Winds of Change

While Burma remains a poorly-functioning state profound change continues as Burma’s President Thein Sein assures the west that he will move forward with all the necessary reforms. Pro-democracy lParliament leader Aung San Suu Kyi works on political reforms as well for her National League of Democracy party, The country has all the chance to uplift and improve the standard of living of its citizens while many Burmese still suffer from extreme poverty and inadequate health care. A wave of anti-Muslim violence in Meiktila in March, 2013 left 43 people dead, most of them Muslims displacing nearly 13,000 others. Such an explosion of "Buddhist" rage was not the first in the country enjoying the new taste of freedom. 2012 brought another group of Muslims, the Rohingya, targeted by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in Western Burma. Two violent events, June and October killed over 200 people and left 140,000 homeless. Most of the victims were the stateless Rohingyas who are amongst the most persecuted minorities in the world.